Variability in healthcare treatment costs amongst nine EU countries

With ?health tourism? rising across the European Union, consumers, insurers and Governments are increasingly interested in the relative cost of common procedures in different countries. In an innovative and insightful collection of papers - to be published tomorrow as a supplement to Health Economics - a group of EU policy analysts and economists have addressed the issue of treatment cost variations using a ?case vignette? approach that standardises patients in nine European countries needing care for hip replacements, stroke, acute myocardial infarction, birth delivery, appendectomy, cataract and dental filling.

The comparison of cost components by vignette found that prices varied greatly. For example, the total cost of hip replacement per patient ranged from ?1290 (£948) in Hungary to ?8739 (£6422) in the Netherlands, with a mean cost of ?5043 (£3707). The large differences in cost and reimbursement for primary total hip replacement between Eastern European countries and other EU member states creates opportunities for cross border trade.

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